Car-door fastener.



F. F. GAINES.

CAR DOOR FASTENER. I APPLICATION FILED FEB. 6, 1911;

1,019,036, Patented Mar. 5,1912.

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F. F. GAINES.

GAR DOOR FASTENER. APPLICATION FILED FEB. e, 1911.

1,019,036. Patented Mar. 5, 1912.

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- F. F. GAIN-ES.

. GAR DOOR FASTBNER. I APPLICATION FILED FEB. 6, 1911.

Patented Mar. 5, 1912.

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' 6, 7, 8 and 9 show details of the securing bolt FREDERICK'F. GAINES, OF SAVANNAH, GEORGIA.

CAR-DOOR rAsTE-Nnn.

Specification of LettersPatent.

Application filed February 6, 1911.

Patented Mar. 5, 1912.

Serial No. 606,761.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FREDERICK F. GAINES, a citizen of the United States, and aresident of the city of Savannah, in the county of Ghatham and State of Georgia, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Car-Door Fasteners, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to car doors and more particularly to outside or non-flush doors for freight cars.

It has for its principal objects to produce a simple and durable lock which will effectually resist shocks, prevent the burglarizing of freight cars, and prevent sparks from entering between the door and side of the car.

Other advantages will hereinafter more fully appear.

The type of freight car door lock in most general use comprises a hasp or bar having an eye which cooperates with a staple. The movements of the ear, sudden stops, jerks, etc., frequently cause this type of fastening to break; and, moreover, unless special care is taken to use a short seal wire, it is possible to open the door a few inches, suflieient to allow an arm to enter without breaking the seal.

The invention consists in the parts and in the arrangements and combinations of parts hereinafter described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings which form a part of this specification and wherein like symbols refer to like parts wherever they occur,Figure 1 is a fragmentary side elevation of a portion of a freight car adjacent to the door opening, the door being shown in closed position; Fig. 2 is a fragmentary view, on an enlarged scale, showing the locking device in closed position; Fig. 3 is a section on the line 33 of Fig. 2; Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. 2, the locking device being shown in open position; Fig. 5 is a section on the line 5-5 of Fig. 4; Figs.

which cooperates with the door locking lever; and Figs. 10, 11, 12 and 13 show details of the hook, keeper and pivot bracket for the looking lever.

In the drawings, the body portion of an ordinary freight "car 1 is shown.

Secured to the rear edge portion of the door 3 is a bracket 7, as shown more clearlyin Fig. '13. The bracket 7 comprises a plate portion adapted to be bolted to the outer face of the door and an inturned flange 8 and integral lug 9 parallel with said flange portion, said two parallel portions being perforated to receive the pivot stud 10 of a locking lever 11. The locking lever is inserted between the portions 8 and 9 of the bracket 7 and the pivot stud 10 is inserted through the perforations in said portions 8 and 9 and the bore in the hub portion 12 on said lever. The lever is preferably secured to the pivot stud by a transverse pin 13.

Secured on the pivot stud 10, preferably integrally therewith, is an eccentric or cam hook 14 which is adapted to engage a cross bar 15 on a countersunk keeper comprising a box-like member 16 having flanges or lugs 17 which are perforated to receive the securing bolts 18. The free end portion 19 of the lever is flattened and turned substantially at a right angle, and this flattened portion is provided with a slot or perforation 20 adapted to cooperate with the lug 21 on a This bracketbracket member or plate 22. member or plate has a boss or lug 23 to which is secured. a pivot stud 24. Pivotally and slidably secured on this pivot stud is a bolt 25 having a countersunk slot 26 which in cross section is a counterpart of said stud 24. One end portion of the bolt 25 is slidably fitted to the perforation in the lug 21 of the plate 22 and is provided with a slot or perforation 27 adapted to receive the band or wire loop of an ordinary car door seal.

When the lever arm 11 is moved upwardly into the position shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3 of the drawings, the eccentric hooked portion 14 has engaged the bar 15 of the keeper 12 and thereby holds the door tight against the side of the car, while the slotted angular extension 19-of the lever or arm 11 has passed over the lug 21 of the bracket member or plate which carries the bolt 25. The end of the bolt is dropped through the perforations in the lug 21 and the sealing band or wire 28 is applied.

The hooked portion 14 of the locking device is of such length that the leveror arm 11 has to move through a considerable angle before the hook is entirely free from the keeper 16. Hence, an ordinary sealing band or wire (in practice generally about' ten inches long) may be used, and the bolt 25 may be withdrawn from its lever-retaining position and yet the lever or arm 11, although permitted considerable movement,

Preferably, a keeper 16 is provided on the side of the car so as to cooperate with the locking device to hold the door in full opened position. Also, another keeper 16 may be located adjacent to the keeper 16 so that the door may be locked in partially opened position in cases where it is desirable having the door opened a short distance for the purposes of ventilation, but ordinarily not wide enough to permit a person to'enter. So, too, there may obviously be a series of keepers 16 arranged so that the car may be locked in different opened positions.

By closing the door against the front stop or strip 29 and locating the look at the rear edge of. the door, the only force acting on the lock when the car is moved or stopped suddenly is that of shear, and there is little liability of the lock becoming broken.

By making the hook 14 in the form of an eccentric, the door is drawn and held tightly against the side of the car, thereby preventing water, sleet and snow from entering and injuring the lading, and it also prevents the entrance of sparks which might cause fire. On the latter account, cotton carrying roads and roads carrying other highly inflammable goods or materials make a practice of nailing a strip of wood back of the door to cover the opening between the door and side ofthe car. The necessity of doing this is eliminated by my invention. 1

Obviously, the device admits of considerable modification without departing from my invention. Therefore, I do not wish to be limited to the specific construction and arrangement shown.

WVhat I claim is:

1. The combinationwith the side of a car and the car door, of a pocketed keeper secured to the side of the car adjacent to the end of the door, a bracket comprising a member secured to the outer face of the door and having a right angular portion abutting of said outwardly projecting parallel member and having a pivot stud j ournaled in the perforations of said two mentioned parallel members, and a lever fixedly secured on said pivot stud between said parallel members.

2. The combination with the side of a car and an outside car door, of a keeper comprising a pocketed member embedded in the side of the caradjacent to the end of the door and having a bar across its opening, a supporting member comprising a member secured to the face of the door and having a substantially right angular portion abutting against the end of the door, an offset portion and an outwardly extending portion at the end of said offset portion, said outwardly extending portion being parallel with said right angular portion and having alined perforations in substantially the same horizontal plane as the bar on said keeper, a hook member having a pivot stud journaled in said perforations, and a lever fixed on said stud between said parallel portions of the supporting member, the hook portion of said hook member extending first laterally from the pivot stud and being curved eccentrically therefrom and terminating at a point substantially in longitudinal alinement with said lever.

v3. In a car door lock, the combination with the side of the car and the car door, of a vertically disposed pocketed keeper countersunk into the side of the car adjacent to the edge of the door, said keeper having a transverse bar across its opening, a horizontally pivoted lever mounted on the edge of the door, said lever having a hooked portion adapted to enter said pocketed keeper behind the cross bar thereof when the lever is moved'in one direction, and means for securing the lever in position when its hooked portion is in engagement with said keeper, the length'of the hooked portion of said lever being such and so correlated with the body port-ion of said lever that the latter has to be moved approximately to its complete reversed position before *the' hook is entirely free from said keeper.

Signeda't Savannah, Georgia, this 27th 1911. FREDERICK F. GAINES.

Witnesses x J. G. KELLAM, J. R. KOERPED.

day of Jan,

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Gommissionerof Patents, Washington, D. G. 

